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Add to Preferred SourcesThe OPERANDUM project at the University of Bologna Mater aims to bring Europe to a forefront of environmental risks mitigation with the help of Horizon 2020.
The project is funded by the European Commission within the Innovation Actions programs and is led by the University of Bologna, focusing on environmental risks caused by meteorological extreme events. Within OPERANDUM, nature-based solutions (NBS) will be tested as mitigating factors to flooding, landslides, coastal erosion, droughts and salt intrusion on extra-urban territories. Nature-based solutions will include the use of vegetation to re-enforce river banks, basins and the co-design, co-development, and realization of vegetated sand dunes to reduce the coastal erosion.
OPERANDUM involves 26 international partners for 4 years, with a European granting of 12.2 million Euros plus an additional contribution of 2 million Euros from China and Australia. The innovative approach requires the development of 10 open-air laboratories (Open-Air-Lab) located in Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Great Britain and Australia, China and Hong Kong in natural and rural areas more and more subjected to hydro-meteorological risks due to climate changes.
“OPERANDUM will create a connection between different scientific and technological expertise and the society to ensure the development of the best workable solutions to enhance our territories resilience to climate changes,” explains Prof. Silvana Di Sabatino, Associated Professor of Atmospheric Physics and Meteorology from DIFA and Coordinator of OPERANDUM.
OPERANDUM will go beyond research and modeling approaches, producing the best strategies to diffuse NBS in Europe and worldwide, and optimizing the socioeconomic impacts. The project will be a reference frame for whole Europe – and beyond – to face the climate change through environmental friendly nature-based solutions. OPERANDUM is the only H2020 project who has an Italian Coordinator considering the 7 projects granted on nature-based solutions topics in 2016-2017.
Original source: Science-Business
Published on 2 July 2018